Patras water polo international tournament

 Patras NOP will host the international water polo tournament "A. Christopoulos". The tournament will take place in Patras, Pepanos center on 19-22 December 2013.  The teams that will participate are NOP 1, Partizan Belgrade, NO Vouliagmenis, ΝΟ Rethymno, Nireas Geraka, NOP 2, NEP, PAOK, Olympiacos and AO Palaiou Falirou.

Thursday 19/12/2013
20:00 NEP - NOP 2

Friday 20/12/2013
11:30 NEP - Olympiacos
12:30 NOP 2- AO Palaiou Falirou
13:30 NOP 1 - NO Rethymno
14:30 NO Vouliagmenis - Gerakas
18.00 Opening Ceremony 

18:30 NOP 2 - PAOK
19:30 AO Palaiou Falirou - NEP
20:30 PARTIZAN – NO Rethymo
21:30 NOP 1 - Gerakas
 

 Saturday 21/12/2013
9:30 NO Rethymno - Gerakas
10:30 PAOK - Olympiacos
11:30 NO Vouliagmeni – PARTIZAN
18:00 AO Palaiou Falirou – Olympiacos
19:00 NOP 1 – ΝO Vouliagmeni
20:00 PAOK - NEP
21:00 Gerakas – PARTIZAN

Sunday 22/12/2013
09:00 NOP 2 – Olympiacos
10:00 ΝO Vouliagmeni  –  NO Rethymno
11:00 NOP 1 – PARTIZAN
12:00 AO Palaiou Falirou - PAOK

You know you are from Patra when...

...there is traffic jam in the pedestrian zone!

Even in the pedestrian zone you are not the only one to drive illegally.

Pedestrian zones in Patras Greece

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Patras, Greece 2012
A small walk downtown to see how local community celebrates the day.

Εuropean Mobility Week Patra Greece

Patra the capital of Achaea participates in European Mobility Week.

Just count the cars and motorcycles on the pedestrian footpath.

Illegally parked cars on Agiou Nikolaou street, blocking one lane of the street.

Pedestrian road of Riga Feraiou is a free parking place.

Pedestrian area of Trion Navarhon also a nice parking place.

This is a footpath for pedestrians but you can park if you drive from the opposite entrance.

Again a nice parking place at Riga Feraiou.

Pavement for pedestrians.

Bicycle lane in the center and footpath on sideway.

Same bicycle lane same disrespectful drivers.

 

Pedestrian footpath for relaxing in your car.

Patras exports

Patras is about to start exports

Euro 2012 greek fans for rent(+light optional hooliganism)

Pedestrian zone in Patras, Greece

Photo from twitter user @mr_elvizzz 

This is what we call pedestrian zone in Patra. 

A great combo of at least 8 cars illegally parked on the pedestrian zone..

Well done Mr. Yannis Dimaras, Mayor of Patras, for not willing to put barriers at the entrance of the pedestrian zone and depending on the "culture of the citizens" in order to keep the pedestrian zone car-free..

''The Rudolf Party'' or how to abuse an animal for your entertainment

Yeaaah! It's Christmas time so what's better to entertain our customers from a Rufolf Party. Ordinary people, ordinary cafe with high prices and "Rudolf the reindeer".
The cafe owners didn't have second thoughts in order to attract more customers so they brought an alive deer in a cage.. Customers seem to enjoy it

So the party went fine, with a lot of alcohol and fun next to an enslaved animal which was suffering inside its cage in order to make people happier during "Christmas time"

All the photos obviously belong to patrasevents.gr which proudly covered the event and wrote
"The owners of the cafe brought an alive deer at their spectacular party so to surprise the customers"

Occupy Pedestrian Zone in Greece

Occupy pedestrian zone! A new movement in Patra, occupy pedestrian zone and squares made for pedestrians and people with disabilities and children! Park your car for free and have no guilty feelings..

Of course it's Christmas time and people are happy so better occupy the city with cars.. 

Patras Christmas Decoration at pedestrian zone

Forget about German Weihnachtsmarkt, forget about London and Harrods, the best Christmas decoration is in Patras. The Christmas spirit and mood is unique since you can park under Christmas lights and become part of the decoration.

Anyway Patras is pedestrian friendly with many pedestrian zones in the city center..

Special report from Riga Feraiou pedestrian zone expansion

Brief report from 3rd DIBF Eurocup Patra 2011

Patra is hosting the 3rd DIBF Eurocup. We have been to Apollon Patron Basketball court and watched couple games.

Italian team A.S.D. Sordi Pesaro versus Israeli Beer Sheva Foxes. The italians was there with supporting members. Congratulations to the ladies at the Games secretary for being there from early in the morning with their brightest smile.

At the main court was the game between Moscow Gloria from Russia and Beer Sheva Foxes from Israel. Both team are professional and play good and fast basketball. The crowd was players and members of other tournament teams and volunteers supporting the tournament.

Official state was present at the tournament only with one policeman and nobody else. Tomorrow is the last day and the ending ceremony, probably "celebrities" of the city will be there for photos.

When i asked about the local team results i was not that surprised to hear that the local team lost the morning game 0-20 because it appeared without uniform. On the other hand the German teams and athlete were the majority.

Tomorrow will try to attend more games and to write a better report with more videos.

Riga Feraiou free parking spot when it rains

Riga Feraiou is the main pedestrian zone of Patras but when it rains it's more convenient to park and avoid getting wet while shopping or having your coffee.

Ο πεζόδρομος της Ρήγα Φεραίου όταν βρέχει είναι βολικός για δωρεάν παράνομη στάθμευση ώστε να μην βραχούμε και να πιούμε άνετα τον καφέ μας ή να ψωνίσουμε στο κέντρο.

3rd DIBF EuroCup Patra 2011

This year Patra, capital of Western Greece will host the 3rd DIBF Eurocup. It is a special annual deaf basketball clubs event in Europe and to celebrate in December 2011 the 30th Anniversary of Sports Association of the Deaf in Southwestern Greece (1981-2011).
Patra is not the most friendly city for people with disabilities and we can guess local authorities will only appear during ceremonies just for speeches and tv shows.

We would like to welcome the eleven mens and six womens clubs that will take part in the cup.

Official Men Team list:

A.S.D. Sordi Pesaro (ITA)
A.S.K.B. N/D Patras (GRE)
A.S.L.S. Nancy (FRA)
Beer Sheva Foxes (ISR)
GSV Osnabruck (GER)
GTSV Frankfurt (GER)
Istanbul (TUR)
London Lions (UK)
Moscow Gloria (RUS)
Piraeus Athens (GRE)
Vilnius Gestas (LTU)
 

Official Women Team list:

A.S.K.B. N/D Patras (GRE)
GSC Nurnberg 1911 (GER)
A.S.D. Sordi Pesaro (ITA)
GSV Muenchen (GER)
London Lionesses (UK)
БК КОРОНА (KROWN) (RUS)


The official site for further infos is http://www.patra2011.com

Patra celebrates International Day for People with a Disability

Pedestrian crossing in Greece

A pedestrian crossing or crosswalk is a designated point on a road at which some means are employed to assist pedestrians wishing to cross. They are designed to keep pedestrians together where they can be seen by motorists, and where they can cross most safely across the flow of vehicular traffic.

Disabled parking spots at Greece

With respect to people with disabilities or health problems.

Metropolitan Opera HD in Greece

Τα μεγαλύτερα έργα της παγκόσμιας όπερας έρχονται για πρώτη φορά στην Ελλάδα. 11 παραστάσεις Live σε απευθείας σύνδεση με τη Metropolitan Opera της Νέας Υόρκης.
Οι παραστάσεις της Metropolitan Opera θα λάβουν μέρος σε πολλές πόλεις της Ελλάδας αλλά οχι στην Πάτρα που υπήρξε πολιτιστική πρωτεύουσα της Ευρώπης κατά το έτος 2006.
Πόλεις όπως Λουτράκι, Βέροια, Κομοτηνή, Βόλος, Μυτιλήνη και Καβάλα προφανώς έχουν περισσότερους κατοίκους με αγάπη για τον πολιτισμό και την τέχνη παρά η τρίτη μεγαλύτερη πόλη της Ελλάδας και "πρωτεύουσα της Δυτικής Ελλάδας". 
Εάν θέλουν πάντως στη Νέα Υόρκη έχουμε φημισμένα πανηγύρια για αναμετάδοση..  

Tactile paving in Patra and Greece

Watch this very interesting video made in Athens, Greece about tactile paving and then realize why there are no blind people walking alone in the city center of Patras, Athens or other Greek cities, even if there is tactile paving.
Here is the current condition of tactile paving for blind people in Patras, capital of western Greece and European capital of Culture for the year 2006.

Riga Feraiou pedestrian zone

From wikipedia we copy the definition of pedestrian zone:

"Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian only use and in which some or all automobile traffic may be prohibited."

Riga Feraiou is the main pedestrian zone of Patra and all automobile traffic is prohibited. But theoretically prohibited since the zone is used as a by-pass or parking spot when traffic is high in city center.

All videos are shot while moving in the city center so it's just a small sample of everyday use of Riga Feraiou pedestrian zone by car and bikes. Patra's citizens and local municipal police don't seem to be bothered by cars or bikes.
ps. Patra was European Capital of Culture for the year 2006.

Ισχυροί δεσμοί ΕΡΤ και Δυτικής Ελλάδας

Διαβάζουμε σε τοπικά μέσα για τον πρώην πρόεδρο της ΕΡΤ Θανάση Παπαγεωργίου, ο οποίος σύμφωνα με τα δημοσιεύματα έχει καταγωγή από το Θέρμο Αιτωλοακαρνανίας και έχει ισχυρούς δεσμούς με την Πάτρα και τη Δυτική Ελλάδα.
 Επίσης διαβάζουμε για τη στενή σχέση του κ.Παπαγεωργίου με τον πρώην δήμαρχο Πατρέων κ. Ανδρέα Φούρα.
Ευχαριστούμε τον πρώην πρόεδρο της ΕΡΤ κ. Θανάση Παπαγεωργίου και τον πρώην δήμαρχο Πατρέων κ. Ανδρέα Φούρα για την αγάπη που έδειξαν για τη Δυτική Ελλάδα και την πρωτεύουσά της.
Οι κάτοικοι της Πάτρας χρόνια τώρα ήταν οι πρώτοι που απολάμβαναν το ψηφιακό σήμα υψηλής ευκρίνειας (high definition) και τα επιπλέον κανάλια της ert digital, και όλα αυτά χάρη στους ισχυρούς δεσμούς του πρώην προέδρου της ΕΡΤ με τη Δυτική Ελλάδα και με το δήμαρχο Πατρέων..

Ευχαριστούμε.. μπεε..